Caldara

hmm, which spirit ally would deserve that kind of sacrifice?

hmm, which spirit ally would deserve that kind of sacrifice?

Northern Tracker (Core)? Damrod (HON)? you can sneak them into the discard pile with Emery (TBoG), and BAM! Three allies that almost make up a hero. Also, remember that spirit has Fortune or Fate (Core), so that's probably a net gain, provided you can swing it!

@Tiandes: Only two allies, not three ( ... for each other hero you control ... )

I'm not impressed with this new hero.

This hero is a disgrace to a Spirit sphere and waste of a hero slot of this game.

@JHGHendriks

I think your reply was aiming at Zalrus9, not me


About Caldara, I think the way to play with it is using him as your main blocker and discard him before he dies to put 2 allies in play (cause I don't see the reason to play with that hero othe rthen in a mono-sphere deck) then resurect him afterward.

Might help with the quest that are very tough at start.

The thing is, you want to use him to put high cost cards early but there isn't a lot of cards that make you discard stuff in the spirit sphere, there's the new Emery (TBoG).

Plus, in a mono-sphere spirit deck, getting spirit resources isn't a bit issue.

@Tiandes: Only two allies, not three ( ... for each other hero you control ... )

I'm not impressed with this new hero.

However, you can play Emery (TBoG) for free, and she allows you to potentially put allies in the discard pile, so it would eventually be three allies for free, almost.

@Tiantes: I'm pretty sure she's female...

I'll save my judgement about her until I actually try her out.

You can combine her with Gondorian Shield for Siege questing or simple defending, or you can use her in spirit-leadership decks for Wealth of Gondor, Envoy and etc. In any case, she's pretty subpar. I wish she had reasonable card text or atleast better stats.

Ok let say that this card does not stink. It's very narrow in its uses but not useless. Discard this hero on purpose and just bring em back with that core card that cost 5. Elf helm, repeating damrod, northern trackers, or even Rohan's horses all make for good combos. Among the heroes that are situationally useful this is the best of them. Will never be a blue glorfindel but what ever will be?

You can't block terminal damage with an ally or hero and then use an action that discards it before it dies. If you use the discard effect before it dies that attack winds up being undefended, Which then means you need to assign undefended damage to another hero. So Caldera can not be used in this way. However, I still believe that she has some worth. Possibly not in a solo game where you need 3 good heroes but in a four player match where the spirit sphere can be shared I can see using Caldera to chain off some combos. Also with Fortune or Fate (Core) she's not gone for good. However with only one card being used to bring your hero back from death...I feel like Caldera is not the best card or at least not yet. Honestly I feel like she'd work better when four players are exploiting cards like Horn of Gondor (Core)
or other cards that do stuff when allies/heros leave. There are more cards from this set that will be released and if there are a few spirit allies that have amazing on entry abilities, maybe she could work out.

2 Northern Tracker (Core) that were possibly just killed by treachery back into the game. Fortune or Fate (Core) to get Caldara back. You save 3 resources.
Or maybe use her to get a couple of chump blockers back in the game during a tough round (possibly after having defended an attack herself)?
It should be quite possible building a deck around this ability. Put in a decent amount of allies + 3 FoF + good old Dwarven Tomb (Core). There is no restriction on how many times she can do this, so if you build around it, I think you can get some powerful comboes.
I wouldn´t write her off as easily when you look at this cycles focus on mono-sphere decks, into which she fits rather good.

Anyone know if you can use Lore Aragorn's effect after Caldera has been discarded for an even lower threat?

Aragorn (TWitW) says to reset threat to your starting threat. Don´t think his ability takes dead heroes into account.

I would say no, your starting threat is threat cost of all heroes included in your deck, and it does not changes if some of them dead by the time you use his ability.

So what is stopping me from using Dwarven Tomb to save a Spirit hero?

Edit: Nevermind... returns it to my hand! Duh!

I just realized that you could combine discard effects with Desperate Alliance (OtD) (a friend would have to play it) to increase the power of her ability. You can potentially get fifteen resources worth of allies for free (Emery (TBoG), Northern Tracker (Core), Elfhelm (TDM), Damrod (HON)) turn one. With a Song of Kings (THFG) and A Very Good Tale (OHaUH), you can branch out into the other spheres to increase the number of quality allies you can cheat into play and have a potentially explosive first turn.

I think the keyword here being "potentially"
You go ahead and plan your deck with that hope

First turn? And how big is chance you'll get Emery in your opening hand + all those people on top of your deck?
You could bring 5 spirit allies back in a 4 player game where everyone has atleast 1 spirit hero and desperate alliance. The thing is - it does not worth it.

Many things does not worth it, but a combo deck is built on the principal of potential. Besides, it doesn't necessarily have to be on the first turn or bring back the most expensive allies Spirit has to offer. For example, a Pelargir Shipwright (AoO) instead of Damrod or Elfhelm might be better for early game. Another advantage to using Desperate Alliance is that it only lasts one phase and it gives you access to more resources.

The only way to build that deck is with a massive amount of Spirit allies (and three Fortune or Fate (Core), three Dwarven Tomb (Core), and maybe a couple Stand and Fight (Core) to catch off-color or cheaper allies), so the chances that you don't dump something worthwhile is pretty low. The Desperate Alliance really just sweetens the pot and increases the efficiency of this trick. If you have a well built Caldara deck any your friend is playing even one Spirit hero, you wouldn't be doing either of you a favor to dismiss this option without careful consideration.

I can build a deck which will play those allies into the game from hand faster than you could set up with killing Caldara. And my deck would not require any big tricks, hero kills, Fortunes and Fates and other useless stuff. It will just generate a lot of spirit resources.

You could still build around her like Bamper suggests. Not just as powerfully as suggested earlier.

You could build a deck with 3 spirit heroes and no spirit cards. The question is - why would you do that if there is ton of better options?

You could build a deck with 3 spirit heroes and no spirit cards. The question is - why would you do that if there is ton of better options?

Indeed. Though I must have missed the part where anybody suggested building a deck like that.

I love this card. I've built a deck around it.

Includes:
Caldara, Eowyn, Glorfindel (FoS)
2x Fortune of Fate to return Cladara to the board.
2x Resourceful to help with resource in case Caldara leaves for more than a few turns
26 of 50 allies (24 of them Spirit to maximize Caldara's ability)
2x Emery for free ally as well as getting allies int he discard for Caldara
1x Palantir for discard and card draw
2x Imladris Stargazer to help control card draw and maximize Palantir ability
3x Pelargir Shipwrights for low cost questing ability
Also has threat reduction (this also helps bring in Resourceful) and some cancel abilities.

All in all I love playing this deck.

2x Imladris Stargazer to help control card draw and maximize Palantir ability

Imladris Stargazer (FoS) rearranges player decks and Palantir (AoO) peeks at the encounter deck.
It sounds like you have mistaken Palantir´s ability for the player deck or is your meaning that it helps you get the right cards IF you are allowed to draw by using it?

Ugh..I've been playing Palantir incorrectly. Thanks for pointing that out. Removed.